Education Secretary Ron Tomalis addresses a Team PA-sponsored forum on education funding in the 2011-12 state budget.

Acting Education Secretary Ron Tomalis believes the education system in Pennsylvania will undergo many positive changes in the coming decade, but added the commonwealth must first address a deficit of $4.2 billion.

“I believe we are going to be in a transformative era in education over the coming five, 10 years,” Tomalis said to an audience gathered for the first of five education forums sponsored by Team Pennsylvania Foundation. “But it’s important to realize the hole we are in. There is a structural deficit that we have to deal with that is not going to go away. And it is a deficit that, out of a $27 billion budget, creates many hard circumstances for people.”

Tomalis added the remedy for the state’s fiscal ills will not come quickly.

“There are no easy fixes, no magic bullet nor will this be solved with smoke and mirrors,” Tomalis said. “If we don’t fix it, the deficit could easily, in a relatively few short years, double.”

Tomalis said state spending for education actually went down over the past two years, but added federal stimulus dollars, which are no longer available, temporarily inflated that funding by 10 percent during that time period.

“When the governor looked at the budget, the federal stimulus dollars went away, so state funding for the BEF (Basic Education Funding) went down,” Tomalis said. “It was all artificially built on a maxed out credit card, which is something you can’t do because it isn’t sustainable.”

Tomalis said the governor decided to back-fill basic education with state dollars, which means funding for that component is back at the level it was pre-stimulus.

“That is an important thing to remember – that we have actually increased basic education with state funding,” Tomalis said. “One of the reasons we did that is we want to keep core function funding levels intact the best we could.”

Tomalis said special education funding remains level at $1 billion, over $600 million has been marked for pension funds, a 100-percent increase over last year, and early childhood funding remains at the same level in the 2011-12 budget.

Tomalis said he has been in constant contact and in discussions with chancellors and administrators at institutions of higher learning since the education budget was revealed last month.

“There is no doubt about it that many of those institutions are very important to the economic development of the commonwealth,” Tomalis said.

Tomalis said community college funding is the same as last year as is the level for the Pennsylvania Higher Education Assistance Agency (PHEAA), which is receiving $381 million in the 2011-12 budget.

Tomalis reiterated in comments he made to Team PA in another story that there is more to raising student achievement than funding.

“Money does not drive student achievement, money is not an indicator of academic progress in kids,” Tomalis said. “In fact, if you look at increases in student achievement over the past 10 years, it is not been consistent like you would expect across the board in all grades and in all measurements.”

Tomalis said the North Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) test scores for 8th grade math have gone up, but are flat or down in 4th grade math. He also said that Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scores have gone down in PA the past few years after increasing in prior years.

Moreover, in response to those who say there have been increases in the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment (PSSA) test scores between 2002-08, Tomalis said those increases mainly occurred between 2002-06, which is a time period prior to heavy funding increases that occurred between 2006-08.

“So something else is happening besides money,” Tomalis said. “And that is important to remember when we talk about what is happening in public education.”

Tomalis noted that the biggest driver of cost in public education is labor – employee salaries and benefits – and noted those components are determined at the local level.

Tomalis said while many Pennsylvanians received no raises during the recessionary years of 2008-09, there was over $1.1 billion in raises for all employees of public education across the commonwealth.

“That is why you saw the governor make the statement asking school district employees to take a one-year salary freeze,” Tomalis said. “That alone would save $400 million and would potentially save over 9,000 teacher jobs.”

Tomalis, in wrapping up his comments, referenced advancements in technology, a growing desire for more charter schools and school improvement grants as several examples of ways he believes education in Pennsylvania will be transformed in the next decade.

“We have many opportunities before us in education,” Tomalis said. “When you see the challenges ahead, I believe we have a greater desire to look at these options, not with trepidation or fear, but with excitement. We are at a transformative time and I think we have an opportunity to reshape education dramatically for kids here in Pennsylvania and across the country.”

The forums, the first of which was held in Harrisburg, are designed for Corbett administration officials to meet with stakeholders to discuss the 2011-12 budget and to gather feedback from its partners. Four more regional forums will be held through the end of April. To find a forum near you, visit teampa.com/education to sign up.

View some of the local media coverage from the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern PA forums: